Skeletal sex and gender in Merovingian mortuary archaeology

Effros, Bonnie

doi:10.1017/s0003598x00059998

Cited by 18 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The probablility of remaining unnoticed when analysing cremations is higher for young children remains than for those of older children, especially in group burials. Adolescent (d [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] ) identification is in most of the cases based on epiphyseal fusion which occurs at different ages in different parts of the skeleton [9,60]. Cremations, however, do not always provide a possibility to identify particular growth plates and to achieve more than rough division of the individuals into subadults and adults.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even though none of the figures for masculinity indexes differs significantly from either each other or the theoretically neutral figure of 1, this trend should not be lost of sight in the studies which require precise sex determination, and especially in those based on the data of isolated burials instead of large skeletal series. In archaeological studies, as a methodological alternative or supplementary argumentation, grave good evaluation should not be disregarded to provide clues about the sex of the deceased, despite scepticism towards this approach advocated by some researchers [4,15,58].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Cremation as limitation? A paleodemographic inquiry into the accuracy of macroscopic analysis of cremated human remains based on an East Lithuanian sample

Kurila

2015

PoA

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Capabilities of skeletal anthropology are limited when studying cremations. The paper assesses the pattern of these limitations and the probability of bias in the macroscopic analysis of cremated remains with an emphasis on its aspects in need of special attention. Biased analysis is viewed as a hazard not only to bioarchaeology, but also to a broad scale of topics in the archaeology of burial. As a methodological approach, a comparative paleodemographic inquiry is proposed. It parallels inhumation (n=72) and cremation (n=370) samples from the 3rd/4th-11th/12th centuries AD of East Lithuania. Life tables are created and mortality and reproductive profiles are calculated. Even though the analysed cremated bone material is fragmentary, a rather high correspondance of the profiles is registered, except for several aspects. Significant difference between inhumations and cremations is the lower subadult ratio in the latter. Underestimation of infants and young children distorts newborn life expectancy and reproductive profiles. Another ground for bias occurs in the probable identification of adolescents as adults when aging cremations. The third risk of bias, alghough somewhat obscure, is observed in aging adults related to the sex of the deceased. Differences of male and female mortality profiles between the samples suggest that the biases in aging and sexing cremated adults are interrelated .

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cremation as limitation? A paleodemographic inquiry into the accuracy of macroscopic analysis of cremated human remains based on an East Lithuanian sample

Kurila

2015

PoA

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…35 In surveying and synthesizing the vast body of scholarship on Merovingian mortuary archeology, Effros ably shows how contemporary concerns can shape interpretation of the past and why some populations, such as the clerical and lay male elite, are better represented in surviving finds and scholarship than other groups. 36 In a study that begins by considering the seventh-century Anglo-Saxon grave of a woman in her late teens, Robin Fleming ref lected on the information her bones and grave goods provided. She had suffered from advanced leprosy at the time of her death, but her impressive set of grave goods, including a bed and silver necklace, indicate higher status and better treatment than lepers found in the later Middle Ages.…”

Section: Mortuary Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Material Culture and Social History in Early Medieval Western Europe

Garver

2014

History Compass

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Historians of the early Middle Ages (c. 600–c. 1050) have long used material remains and archeological evidence to learn about that era. Over the last four decades, material culture studies have become a prominent area of historical research, particularly for cultural historians. Recent early medieval studies have followed this trend. In addition, religious and economic studies of the so‐called “Dark Ages” have drawn from material sources. Object‐driven social history has been less popular, but recent work, especially on Francia and Anglo‐Saxon England, demonstrates that such projects offer new findings on a period whose texts rarely address social relations and everyday life directly. Material culture therefore offers rich research possibilities for early medieval social history.

show abstract

“…Arnold initially questioned earlier interpretations of the chiefly late Hallstatt burial at Vix as male, leading to its current acceptance as female, and also inspired others to reassess the correlation of gendered grave offerings with biological sex (Effros 2000;Vida de Navarro 1992). Arnold also proposes that in certain periods when local men outmigrated as mercenaries for Mediterranean states, women took on chiefly roles (Arnold 1991(Arnold , 1996.…”

Section: Gendermentioning

confidence: 99%

Unity and Diversity in the European Iron Age: Out of the Mists, Some Clarity?

Thurston

2009

J Archaeol Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While some researchers continue to focus fruitfully on traditional issues, in recent years new perspectives, some strongly revisionist, have developed within European Iron Age archaeology, moving it from a long-static state into a rapidly changing milieu. Studies of colonialism, imperialism, and interaction have undergone sequential shifts into new territory, while topics related to sacred activity, political apparatuses, and the ruler-subject relationship have undergone substantial reworking. Perspectives absent from earlier literature have emerged: gender, age, ethnicity, and identity, and interpretations employing theories of practice, agency, landscape, and embodiment have emerged, mirroring broader disciplinary shifts. An overarching trend sees Iron Age Europe as a series of interactive societies with both broad similarities and sharp regional, even local, differences, moving through time and ever-changing relationships, influences, and trajectories. The collision of traditional and revisionist scholarship has produced debate, some heated, but has improved and invigorated the field.

show abstract

Skeletal sex and gender in Merovingian mortuary archaeology

Cited by 18 publications

References 25 publications

Cremation as limitation? A paleodemographic inquiry into the accuracy of macroscopic analysis of cremated human remains based on an East Lithuanian sample

Cremation as limitation? A paleodemographic inquiry into the accuracy of macroscopic analysis of cremated human remains based on an East Lithuanian sample

Material Culture and Social History in Early Medieval Western Europe

Unity and Diversity in the European Iron Age: Out of the Mists, Some Clarity?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About